Your student advisor's email address and phone number will be listed as well. When contacting your student advisor, always include your student id number and a phone number where you can be reached.

You will receive an introductory email from your student advisor within the first few weeks of your work term. The email will provide information about the work term consultation you can expect to receive during your employment this term.

Please do not hesitate to contact your student advisor anytime if you have an urgent matter to discuss

Create learning objectives

Prior to entering your co-op job, or during the first week of your job, you should develop a list of learning objectives.

Learning objectives can help you develop skills and get the most out of your co-op job.

Your learning objectives will be more general when creating them prior to entering your co-op job, and will become more specific as you revise them throughout the progression of your co-op job.

When creating learning objectives, remember to:

keep the number of objectives to a minimum

be specific (i.e., “I want to save $100/month”, as opposed to “I want to save money for my tuition”)

make them measurable

keep in mind your personal and career goals

focus on what new skills, habits, and attitudes you’d like to achieve

Your student advisor will discuss your learning objectives during your work term consultation. As you assess your success, you may wish to discuss your goals further with your student advisor.

The learning objectives you set should clarify your career path and help create a greater understanding of your chosen field.

Remember: every job is different and some of the questions will not have any relation to your job.

Developing your learning objectives

Give an outline of the company

What products, activities and/or services does it provide?

Who are its customers?

How many people are employed in various capacities?

What are the company's assets, facilities, and equipment?

What technologies does it rely on?

What is the company's primary marketplace and source of profit?

Is the market local or abroad?

What was the share price variance during the last year?

Give an outline of the departmental structure

How does each department function?

How are they organized?

What kind of projects are each department responsible for?

What did you learn about?

production processes, raw materials, and equipment used by the employer?

energy requirements?

specialized processes?

design, research, testing, marketing, and production?

buying, budgetary control, and cost analysis?

critical path analysis?

management by objectives and project management control?

quality control and service standards?

customer service and human resources?

interdependence of departments?

personnel, employment problems, and organization of employees?

How can you improve?

your discipline's skills?

communication and productivity?

the competitiveness or effectiveness of your employer?

standards of quality or service?

Analysis/Synthesis

Some people like to take complex situations and analyse them; others like to take a general view of events and fit them together. Some are comfortable doing either. Where do you fit in?

Problem Solving

How do you tackle problems? Are you tenacious, creative, or a combination of the two? What kind of problems do you like to solve?

Creativity

Many people think they want creative jobs. What does "creative" mean to you? Does creative relate to objects, designs, ideas, people, relationships, techniques, or systems? How creative does your job need to be?

Self-assessment on how you fit into the work place

This section deals with you. The questions help you determine where and how in general you fit into work places, how you can enhance the learning process in the future, and how to plan a career.

Working with people on your work term

Every job requires you to work with people. Do you prefer to work alone or in a group? With the public? On a one to one basis or in a group?

Competition

Are you competitive?

Do you need competition or are you happier in a less stressful environment?

Tension and stress

Common examples of stressful situations include exams, delivering speeches, and meeting deadlines. How do you handle stress?

Do you fall apart or thrive?

Do you procrastinate or plan ahead?

Criticism

No one likes to be criticized. What is your typical reaction to criticism? Are you defensive or aggressive? How does your reaction change when the criticism is from superiors, peers, or subordinates?

Feedback

How much feedback do you need?

How much praise do you need?

How frequently and quickly do you need praise?

Doing vs. thinking

Some people have great ideas, but tend to be intimidated by implementation. Others are very good at implementing ideas, but cannot generate them. Where do you fit in?

Challenges

When challenged, what is your reaction?

How much challenge do you need? How much variety?

At what point does a challenge become a hassle?

Prestige

How important is status to you?

Do you have to have ownership of an idea or project, or are you happy contributing?

Salesmanship

Some people enjoy persuading others. Others consider persuasion to be aggressive and intrusive. Where do you fit in?

Judgement

How do you make decisions? Do you have to have every fact, or do you trust intuition?

Do you decide quickly or at length?

Do you take full responsibility for your decisions or do you prefer sharing decisions?